Sleep-deprived brain can put you at risk

New York: Sleep deprivation hampers our ability to accurately read facial expressions and can put us at various risks in daily life, shows a study.

Sleep deficit can have serious consequences such as not noticing that a child is sick or in pain or that a potential mugger or violent predator is approaching.

“Recognising the emotional expressions of someone else changes everything about whether or not you decide to interact with them and, in return, whether they interact with you,” said study senior author Matthew Walker, professor of psychology and neuroscience at University of California-Berkeley.

The results do not bode well for countless sleep-starved groups.

“Consider the implications for students pulling all-nighters, emergency-room medical staff, military fighters in war zones and police officers on graveyard shifts,” said Andrea Goldstein-Piekarski, postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in a paper published in the Journal of Neuroscience.